Seven U.S. Crews in Action on Wednesday at 2006 World Rowing Championships

August 22, 2006source: USRowing

The U.S. will have seven boats in action on Wednesday at the 2006 FISA World Rowing Championships on Dorney Lake in Eton, England.

The lightweight men's double sculls, lightweight women's quadruple sculls, lightweight men's four, and women's quadruple sculls will race in repechages, or second-chance races, on Wednesday for the right to advance to either the semifinals or finals in their respective events. The men's four with coxswain and lightweight men's quadruple sculls will race for lanes. With six of fewer entries in those boat classes, the two events will have a seeding final to set the lane assignments for Sunday's medal race. Meanwhile, the men's double sculls will race in a C/D semifinal that determines which crews will advance to the C and D placement finals.

The lightweight men's double sculls tandem of Cody Lowry (Bristow, Okla.) and Dan Urevick-Ackelsberg (Philadelphia, Pa.) finished third in its heat. On Wednesday, the duo will take on Ireland, Cuba, China, and Turkey in the first of three repechages. The top two finishers from each race will advance to Friday's semifinals.

Jennifer Kaido (West Leyden, N.Y.), Liane Malcos (Carlisle, Mass.), Ala Piotrowski (Manchester, N.H.), and Lia Pernell (Seattle, Wash.) finished third in their heat of the women's quadruple sculls. In the repechage, the crew will take on boats from the Ukraine, China, Germany, Russia, and Canada, with the top four finishers moving on to Sunday's final. Australia and Great Britain won the heats to earn automatic berths into the medal race.

The lightweight women's quadruple sculls quartet of Michelle Trannel (East Dubuque, Ill.), Katie Sweet (Seattle, Wash.), Abby Broughton (Tetonia, Idaho), and Anne Finke (North Palm Beach, Fla.) finished second in its heat and will now take on Portugal, Canada, Denmark, and Germany in the repechage. The top four finishers from the race will advance to Sunday's final to face heat winners China and Great Britain.

The lightweight men's four of Tom Paradiso (Blue Bell, Pa.), Simon Carcagno (Pennington, N.J.), Matt Muffelman (Mathews, Va.), and Colin Farrell (Oaklyn, N.J.) finished fourth in its heat and will now take on Spain, Belgium, Italy, and Israel in the third of four repechages. The top two finishers will move on to Friday's semifinals.

The men's double sculls tandem of Francis Cuddy (Amherst, N.H.) and Shane O'Mara (Tampa, Fla.) finished fourth in its repechage on Tuesday and will now race in Wednesday's C/D semifinal, which determines the crews that will race in the C final for places 13-18 and the D final for places 19-24. The duo will take on crews from Indonesia, Estonia, Australia, Italy, and Slovakia.

The men's four with coxswain of Dane van den Akker (Santa Barbara, Calif.), Kyle Larson (Seattle, Wash.), Scott Gault (Piedmont, Calif.), Chris Callaghan (Tualatin, Ore.), and Brodie Buckland (Olympia, Wash.) will hit the water for the first time at the world championships in Wednesday's seeding race. The crew will take on New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain, Italy, and Germany in the race for lane assignments for Sunday's final.